REVIEW
We have been casually talking to André Neteler for quite some time about his andrenalin wheels project, and we were intrigued, but we do get a lot of people contacting us about their latest and greatest product only to find out, when you delve in, that it’s just another branded part from a Chinese catalogue. So, while we were intrigued, we also had a healthy dose of scepticism.
Then we sat down and had a couple of hours deep dive with André, where we realised these are not just another set of nice wheels, these were meticulously designed, meticulously considered and built with a purpose. The purpose … to be extremely light, stiff, and to go fast!
André Neteler has been building wheels for years; he describes it as his passion but knew he could improve on what was available on the market. What makes André qualified to conceive of the BMX wheel evolution you might ask? Well, on top of the desire to do it, he’s an old school racer, a mechanic for the German elite nation team, and runs a sideline as a Mercedes engineer (his real job) … but what’s better than one Mercedes engineer taking on the BMX wheel conundrum? Three Mercedes engineers! André teamed up with two of his colleagues, Tim Zanker, a prototype enginneer, and Nicholas Minsch, an aerospace engineer, who also happen to run 12eleven, a boutique carbon fiber rim company. But even with all that expertise at their disposal, they would still have to change mindsets in the BMX world, a world that may just be entrenched in the idea that you need 36, three cross spokes. That’s not the world the Mercedes engineers wanted to reside in!
From the outset the target was simple, design and build a very high-end wheelset for elite level BMX racers. A wheel with a weight in the region of 1100g, with a low rolling resistance, and as stiff as other builds on the market. Easy huh!
The team approached Heuer Radsport, a company who develops high-end track bike hubs, to help with the project. Neither Heuer Radsport or 12eleven had been in the BMX world up to this point, but after what we assume took some convincing, both enthusiastically joined the project … and they all set about the design process.
The key to the weight loss on the wheel design; besides carefully designing the carbon rims with high grade material, and a minimalist set high-end hubs … was the spokes, or rather the amount of spokes and tier length. How can you reduce the number of them and still retain stiffness and strength? You can’t just decide to go to 28 spokes on the rear wheel for a fully formed adult and cross your fingers. Every dimension on the hubs was analysed, every fraction of a millimetre was tweaked to perfection. Wider flanges are better for strength, matching the angle of the spokes on the left and the right to make them symmetrical (which is not straightforward!) increases stiffness, more material between spoke holes increases hub strength in critical areas. The level of design detail the team went to in order achieve the goal is truly impressive. If you look closely, you’ll even notice the rear rim is offset 2.5mm to get the symmetrical spokes. Details …
All the specs and technical details are impressive, but its not until you get your hands on a set of the andrenalin wheels, that you realise how beautiful the wheels are. All the details are simple, functional, designed to perfection, not embellished. Purpose over gimmick. And light, oh my god are they light! The rear wheel, a 28 spoke, 2 cross lace design, tipped our scales (without tyres or tubes) at 690g, and the front, with its visually impressive, 24 spoke radially laced design (shorter spokes, means lighter), came in at a featherweight 510g. And it’s all rotational weight!
Once on the bike, the weight saving is instantly noticeable, the bike just accelerates effortlessly. Despite the slight feeling of concern when you first put the 28 and 24 spoke wheels on a bike you are about to jump doubles on, we noticed no lack of strength or stiffness. In fact, the wheels felt stiffer than other wheels to us. We have no doubt that that is partially due to the quality of materials, and in no small part to André’s expertise in wheel building.
If you are used to the silence of the most ubiquitous hubs at the track, you’ll instantly notice the buzz from the Heuer hubs, we liked the change to be honest. You may even notice the lack of instant engagement from the rear hub, but it’s so close to instant that it’s almost a moot point. What we are sure you will notice is how smooth the ride becomes!
While we’re the first to admit that we are not even close to enacting the levels of force through the wheels, especially the rear, as an Elite rider would, we’re confident we case more jumps, and drop the front on lips during failed manuals, than any elite rider could dream of. We’ve had zero issues so far …
Elite riders have been rigorously testing the wheels for a significant amount of time though. Germany’s Philip Schaub told us, ‘I‘ve been using the Adrenalin wheel set for 1,5 years already and I love them. They are not only super light and roll smooth, but also super stiff. In many ways, the best wheelset you can get right now.’ The team at Andrenalin initially expected the wheels to last a top-level rider in the region of just one season, and way longer for the rest of us mere mortals, but Philip remarked, ‘even after 1.5 years they still feel like day one.’
Julian Schmidt, another German national team rider has also been testing the concept, ‘I really like the wheels! They are next level! Extremely light weight and at same time stiff and robust enough for elite racing.’
It’s not just Philip and Julian who have been racing with the wheels, a lot of the German team, from Aron Beck to Stefan Heil, have been running the wheels at World Cups and World Championships. You might even have seen some of the components on Swiss Olympian Cedric Butti’s bike.
What we think is key to the success here was the approach the team took. It wasn’t to design the best rim and the best hub … it was a cohesive approach, it was to design the best wheel! Everything must work together, in unison, to achieve the goal … and it does. The 12eleven rims, the Heuer Radsport hubs, the Sapim CX-Ray Spokes, the beautifully designed Heuer cog, the care in the build … they all excel together. The wheels excel! Don’t think of the reduced number of spokes, think of the endless hours of engineering, the specialist knowledge, the passion it takes to take this type of idea from paper to the bike. The result is undoubtedly impressive …
Find out more about he wheels on the Heuer Radsport site, the soon to be released 12eleven site, or get in touch with André Neteler through his andrenalin site, where he can advise what is best for you, and maybe build you your dream wheels …
If you have BMX product and you’re interested in a ‘Fifteen BMX’ fair and honest review please email us at info@15.ie … BMX since the 80’s with 25 years of real-world product design experience!
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